Friday, October 31, 2014

Molti Ritratti: Lady Diana Cooper


Diana Olivia Winifred Maud Cooper, Viscountess Norwich, née Lady Diana Manners (1892-1986) was one of those society beauties who was too attractive to capture with oil or any other kind of paints. Not that a few artists didn't try, and some of their efforts are shown below.

On the other hand, cameras love certain kinds of beauty (and vice-versa, I assume). So the best images of Lady Diana Cooper seem to come via photography, as also can be seen below. The photo at the top of this post is by Emil Otto Hoppé (1878-1972), and is perhaps the iconic image of Diana.

Her Wikipedia entry is here, and views of how she lived can be found here.

Photo Gallery

Also by Hoppé - 1916

Photo showing left profile

By Cecil Beaton

Time magazine cover - 15 February, 1926

Artist Gallery

By James Jebusa Shannon when Diana was young

By James Jebusa Shannon at the time of her marriage to Duff Cooper (1919)

By John Lavery - Lady Diana Cooper with Hazel Lavery and Viscountess de Janze - 1919

By Ambrose McEvoy

Drawing by John Singer Sargent

4 comments:

Hels said...

Came from the Duke of Rutland, married within the aristocracy of course, and produced a great writer, John Julius Norwich. Not bad at all!

But what would you say her major and most long-lasting contributions were?

Donald Pittenger said...

Hels -- Her greatest work of art was Herself, say I from the male chauvinist pigsty.

To change the subject, I wonder why Time used such an old (by that time) photo of her, not to mention her pre-marriage name.

Newcott said...

Stumbled across your very interesting blog while researching Lady Diana Cooper. I was particularly pleased to see the J S Sargent image. She was a fascinating character. My interest in her came from listening to an interview with her which can be found on the BBC Desert Island Discs archive. Worth a listen if you can access it, I am in the UK. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009y17t. I am also pleased to find a kindred spirit regarding "Modern Art". I am a keen follower of the Art Renewal Centre and I now look forward to exploring your blog

Alan Williams
CArdiff, Wales

Donald Pittenger said...

Alan -- Thank you for finding the blog.